When in June.
Bündchen was noticeably absent from each of the QB’s games to start the season—just as her husband’s play was arguably the worst of his 23-year career.
In October, Brady lost three consecutive games for the first time ever. A day after the third loss, to the Baltimore Ravens, Brady and Bündchen confirmed they’d divorced.
“You try to compartmentalize things and really focus on what your job is,” Brady said on his weekly podcast that week. “I know people [say], ‘Tom, you should have retired. You should have done this, you should have done that.’ And that’s OK…For me, there’s always gratification when you make this commitment, and you have a group of individuals that do the same and you see something pay off.”
Despite averaging just 6.4 yards per pass attempt this year (his worst average in 20 years) and throwing just 25 touchdown passes (the fifth-fewest of his career), the Buccaneers snuck into the playoffs with a losing record—Brady’s first ever—after barely winning the NFC South.
Brady’s spiraling season ended with Monday’s thrashing by the Cowboys, where the QB was captured screaming and slapping his own helmet after a second-quarter interception—a play and reaction that served as a microcosm for his year as a whole.
After a season from hell, taking Fox up on its massive TV deal is probably the most sensible option for Brady, but the newly single star hasn’t given any indication he plans to call it quits just yet.
“There’s no immediate retirement in my future,” Brady said on his podcast in October. “There was a retirement in the past, but I moved on from that.”
